EDITORIAL: Student walkouts are encouraging

A nationwide student walkout is taking place today (Wednesday) to mark the one-month anniversary of the horrific shooting in Parkland, Florida that killed 17 people, 14 of them high school students.

Some local students are taking part. The point is to call attention to gun violence in schools.

Pressure from Parkland students led to the recent passage of a Florida state law that imposes a three-day waiting period on all gun purchases and raises the legal age for gun purchases to 21. It also allows the arming of some school employees, although teachers are mostly excluded.

This exercise in public advocacy has to be the best educational activity the Parkland students have participated in during their school careers. By following their lead, other students nationwide are learning what it means to be a politically participating citizen in a democracy.

You never learn as much by talking about something or reading about it as you do by doing it. That is why it’s important, in Florida and elsewhere, that the students themselves are taking the lead, planning their own demonstrations.

Some school leaders get it. In Queensbury, for instance, after school administrators learned students were planning something, they agreed to cooperate so they could be assured the event was safe.

But the students planned the event, and not every student has to participate, because this is a voluntary event, not an official one.

In South Glens Falls, in contrast, the school administration has scheduled an official activity that will be part of the school day. The agenda has been set by school officials, and the events will be led by school staff. Instead of facilitating a student-run event, the school administration has co-opted it, limiting opportunities for students to feel empowered.

Also, South High Principal Pete Moody said something silly in reference to a student walkout: “Someone could know, with great certainty, that South High students will be outside and vulnerable at that day and time and this is a scenario that I am not willing to risk.”

It hardly needs to be said that “someone” can know South High students will be streaming out from the school buildings and vulnerable at the end of every school day.

In the Hadley-Luzerne district, Superintendent Beecher Baker has taken an unfortunate stance against any student participation, saying students who take part in a walkout will be disciplined.

He suggested a walkout during a class period was “divisive,” because some students would participate and some wouldn’t. He also said the school should not get involved in politics.

Teachers and administrators should not be foisting their personal politics, whatever they are, onto students — we agree with Baker on that.

But this issue — school shootings — is one that greatly concerns public high school students. It is a very good sign for our democracy that our young citizens want to make a difference on issues that concern them.

The Parkland students have set a great example by moving on from their shared trauma with energy and passion to make positive changes in our society. They have already partly succeeded with the passage of the gun control and school safety bill in Florida.

This is Sunshine Week, when members of the press celebrate the freedom they are guaranteed by the First Amendment. The First Amendment also guarantees freedom of speech and the right of the people “peaceably to assemble.” This is an opportunity for schools to impress upon students the importance of the Bill of Rights, and there can be no better way to do than by allowing students to exercise those rights.

Watch this discussion.Stop watching this discussion.

(37) comments

"The point is to call attention to gun violence in schools." The worst law enforcement (FBI, Broward County Sheriff and Coral Springs PD) failure in modern history should be the point to which our attention should be called.

Student walkouts are NOT encouraging. The students do not run the schools or make the rules. Adults do. By allowing these protests the adults running the schools are conceding their authority to a few students who are being manipulated by influences outside the school environment. Alternatives exist. Put the phones down. Embrace other students who are having a difficult time socializing. Attempt to end the bullying. These activities will not make the news but will help the schools heal.

I couldn't have said it any better myself. Put down the video game and get rid of the phones. Kids need to learn how to socialize face to face instead of behind a phone, computer or video game system. And as far as encouraging the walkouts......... Give me a break. I agree with the H-L School official. There should be consequences, this is a school.......... not Skateland. We have rules.

Slippery slope.... Make it a Memorial Walkout for the slain students and I am sure Superintendent Baker would be supportive. BTW If it is a "protest" shouldn't the students expect the possibility of discipline? Kind of hard to 'protest' if it is approved... if you know what I mean. Also, (while i would not expect it to happen in a Memorial Walkout) what if a counter group decides to protest as well? Are you going to chose to support one side over the other? Like I said a slippery slope.

You would think educators would be teaching children to go out into the world and do something to make a difference.Maybe they will order a truck load of stone and teach them the proper way they should be thrown through a window.Laying down on lawns, marching, and staging walk outs, Burning neighborhoods and looting is counterproductive we should want better for our children.

I really don’t think that they are going to loot and burn neighborhoods but they will graduate to that if they are taught by adults that being disruptive is a good thing. And the goal of the people who commit these heinous crimes is to get as much attention for as long as they can and the people who plan on doing these things in the future try to be bigger than the one before. These workouts and such just feed their ego it’s what they are looking for. The school kids don’t know better but we trust the adults to teach them to do something constructive not disruptive.

And there you have the stark contrast between 1. a few evil children shooting other children, and;2. being able to take up arms against enemies of the people, both foreign and domestic to preserve liberty.

I'm 46 years old and I don't really see an abundance of conscientious, civic-minded behavior from my peers or my elders, especially the wrongheaded ones who think the youth needs to be seen and not heard. The kids can't possibly do worse than the selfish babyboomers have. I trust these children speaking their mind by walking out of school far more than any so-called adult who thinks the internet needs to hear our thoughts - myself included. Step aside, all of you. All of us. Let the kids lead. They may or may not have earned it. But we have "earned" our displacement at their hands.

The Parkland school event is all about EPIC FAILURE period.The walkouts are the brainchild of adults sponsored with thousands of dollars by the anti gunners.Some of our grandchildren are being bullied into taking part in the walkouts.In one of these advents today i saw as many adults as children present.

If these walkouts upset the thin skin of uptight baby boomers as much as these internet comments lead me to believe, they should plan more. I think they can afford to take a break from the monotony of learning how to pass a test and actually have real life experience, like a demonstration which fosters camaraderie and intellectual understanding of nuances and complex problems. This isn't something new and not only an American thing, so there is a tradition of these demonstrations worldwide. I don't blame them, we should all be sick to our stomachs about how violent and complacent we are with American culture. It's a disease. And criticizing those actually having some praxis is shameful.

This is nothing more than a well orchestrated assault on our young people called social engineering, where the minds of our children are being systematically brainwashed and remolded for an evil Agenda 21 takeover. The Deep State wants the The western hemisphere disarmed for a reason. Do your homework people!

I think this comment is pretty self-evident of some interesting social engineering itself. Your homework should be to look in the mirror and lay off the conspiracy theories. The youth wanting change because of school shootings (where they spend most of their lives for 14 years) is a natural reaction.

The people in Venezuela - as the 4th richest country in the world- avidly voted for a government full of promises that has since absolutely destroyed them. There was no coup. Now they;re powerless to change their own destiny. But that can't happen here, because we're just so "exceptional" and "civilized" - right?

Seeks the truth it sounds like you found the truth, for years people have been paying for their children to go to college to study law or medicine or whatever only to have liberal professors shove their politics down their throat. This is just a way to start the brainwashing at a younger age and we have to pay for it with our tax dollars it’s ludicrous.Our children are being used as pawns in the gun debate. These people need to forget their agenda long enough to discuss the real problems and make some progress.

A pro Democrat organization organizing a protest with our children sanctioned by our schools. Inculcating OUR children. I find it disgusting. disgusting. It is campaign season, judging from your anti - Stefanik articles. Are going to gush about her opponent's visit, endorse Stefanik, rail on her personally, print a few of her press releases, print old news as if it were a scandal and then pull her endorsement. It worked for Gillibrand.

How soon we forget that the Feminist group had called for a walkout on March 14th shortly after the shooting, at that time their anger was of course at the current President and were trying to put their Political agenda into it. Here is a idea, go to school, stay in school and do what you are there for and that is to learn. You want to do something to show support for the tragic event then hold a candle light vigil on the weekend. This is grossly pathetic to follow the original people that started this walkout

Far be it for the Post Star editors to pass up a chance to take a dig at SGF. Focus on your skewed perception as usual instead of the meaningful conversation that took place between students and staff in school during the period of time of the walk out. I'll take that over a laissez-faire approach where kids still didn't get a chance to discuss and talk through their thoughts any day. I applaud Mr. Mody for his approach and for caring enough to give these kids this outlet.

I disagree. I'd say the ads are informative.I appreciate seeing which elected official is in the pocket of the NRA. And I say this as a hunter and gun owner who disagrees with the NRA's "all or nothing" policies regarding guns. Let's ask the parents of the dead children. Which of you has the guts to do that?

Ha! The NRA is NOT all or nothing. They've supported just about every 2nd A infringement on the books, including the NICS system and banning bump stocks (read:piece of plastic)! Oh, and BTW, the NRA is the citizens who support them, paying for memberships to have them lobby representatives for them.

So there you go. I don't support the NRA sugar muffins, because I do not support the infringement of any rights by the government.

Welcome to the discussion.

Comments will not be posted if any of the following rules are
violated:
- Comments must be contained to the topic of the articles only.
- Comments must be civil in tone and cannot contain personal
insults directed toward another reader.
- Profanities cannot be used, including abbreviations or
acronyms.
- Comments critical of crime or accident victims, or imply guilt
are not allowed.
- Comments that are potentially libelous, including those that
contain accusations not supported by facts are not allowed.
- Comments that appear to be taunting others who comment are not
allowed.
- Comments should be brief and never more than 1,000 characters.